OSHA fines shipyard $37,591 after employee death

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Detyens Shipyards Inc. faces $37,591 in penalties related to a citation (.pdf) from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration accusing the shipyard of failing to protect employees from “struck-by and fall hazards.”

According to a news release from the U.S. Department of Labor, a shackle fatally struck an employee during a lifting operation. In its citation, OSHA said the shipyard failed to ensure employees used a fall protection system when working at heights and did not retrain employees exposed to fall hazards.

OSHA also said the shipyard exposed employees to “caught-between hazards” by allowing them to enter between a guardrail and a rudder shaft while it was being lifted.

“This tragedy was preventable,” OSHA Raleigh Area Director Kimberly Morton said in the news release. “Employers must identify and eliminate hazards in the workplace, as required by law.”

Detyens has 15 business days to comply with the citations and penalties, request a conference with OSHA’s area director, or contest the findings before the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission.

An email to the company was not returned by press time.